Getting our son and daughter ready for their first day of school back in August was a success. We dropped them off and waved goodbye as they ventured off to meet their teachers and make friends. Now that we’re a few months in, we’ve learned that keeping ourselves and the kids organized at home is important in making the school year a success for everyone.
Now That School’s In Session…Here Comes the Homework!
To help the kids stay organized year-round and build independence, we identified a space in our home that is dedicated to homework. This DIY station is complete with the supplies they need to complete their assignments. We used our P-touch D200G Label Maker, available at Walmart, to organize our space and supplies. Adding easy-to-read labels helps my kids know where to find and return the supplies when they’re finished with their work.
One of the best aspects of the P-touch D200G is that it allows you to add a personal touch when you are organizing. We’ve customized labels for each of the kid’s homework supplies so they can each quickly find what they need when they sit down to work on their projects. Baby girl’s supplies are organized in White on Berry labels, while baby boy’s are organized in Black on Yellow Labels. Since there are 8 fonts, 95 frames, and more than 600 symbols to choose from, each of the kids helped choose their fonts and symbols to make their supplies feel extra special – and help homework not feel like a chore! With my daughter having different classes this year as a new middle schooler, it was fun for her to choose different symbols to coordinate with the different topics!
While our baby boy doesn’t have much homework in 1st grade, he does need access to crayons, colored pencils, and art supplies for occasional worksheets and home projects. We keep these organized in a pencil box as well, so he doesn’t lose any and can sit down to do his homework right along with his big sister.
Keeping a Neat Paper Trail
If you have school-aged children, you know that kids bring home lots of paperwork to review including informational flyers and permission slips. Between our two kids, it can be easy to mix up permission slips or misplace them in the daily stack of junk mail, so we bought a desktop tray and labeled a slot for each of the kids’ forms and slips they need us to review. If there’s a permission slip they need signed, they know to drop it in the tray labeled with their name for us to see and sign. This helps to keep my husband and I organized and holds us accountable to sign and send back necessary forms.
The P-touch D200G label maker isn’t just for organizing school supplies and paperwork. I also label small containers with the kids’ individualized snacks for when they get home. They know exactly what to grab so there’s no need to guess what their snack will be that day! And because the tapes are laminated, I can put the containers through the dishwasher and the tapes stay put and don’t fade.
These are just a few ways we are staying organized at home with the P-touch D200G Label Maker. It’s easy to set up, easy to use, and provides a variety of colors of durable labels to help your family have a successful school year!
The Brother P-touch D200G is available for $29.88 at Walmart – online and in-store – and comes with two tapes: Black on White and Black on Yellow.
Wouldn’t the P-touch label maker be a great addition in your home? In what other ways would you use these fun and personalized labels to help keep your family organized?
All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™
Disclosure: In collaboration with Brother, samples were received and I have been compensated for my time and effort in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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